Built by people who stayed too late after dinner
Joysola started as a neighbourhood grill and accidentally became Dunedin's favourite room for in-person poker. This is the story of the kitchen, the felt, and the crew that runs both.
From one grill to a full house
Six years, one wall knocked down, and a back room that went from storage to the city's friendliest poker room.
A grill and a hope
Danny and Mere open Joysola on Mailer Street with a charcoal grill, eleven tables and a wine list scribbled on a chalkboard.
The Green Felt Room is born
Regulars kept lingering after dessert, so the old storeroom became a two-table poker corner. It filled up in a month — the social poker experiment worked.
Six tables and a proper bar
We knocked through the back wall, built the whisky bar, and hired full-time dealers. Thursday poker socials became a Dunedin institution.
Otago Dining Guide venue of the year
Named regional venue of the year — the first time a "restaurant with poker" took the top spot.
Still dinner first
The kitchen leads, the poker follows, and every night still ends the same way: full room, loud table, somebody asking for one more hand.
Fire, felt & fellowship
Fire
Real cooking over real coals. No shortcuts, no sous-vide-everything — if the grill can't make it better, it doesn't go on the menu.
Felt
Poker the way it should be — face to face, dealer-hosted, beginner-friendly. Cards are the excuse; the people are the point.
Fellowship
Regulars get greeted by name, first-timers get folded in by dessert. The room works because everyone in it acts like a host.
A few wins we're proud of
- Otago Dining Guide — Venue of the Year 2025
First "restaurant with poker" to take the top award. - NZ Hospitality Awards — Best Social Gaming Space
For the Green Felt Room's dealer-hosted format. - $38,000 raised for local causes
Our charity poker nights fund the Mornington community kitchen.
“Nobody else in the region pairs a kitchen this serious with a poker room this welcoming.”
— Otago Dining Guide, judges' noteFaces you'll see every night
Twenty-six of us now — these four run the show.
Mere Aroha
Head ChefRuns the grill like a poker dealer runs a table — calm, quick, never bluffs.
Danny Kowalski
Founder & GMBuilt the place, still plays the Thursday social poker table. Average player, great host.
Tom Ferreira
Poker Room ManagerTrained in Melbourne card rooms, runs our dealer team and the season poker leaderboard.
Sam Whitford
Head BartenderEighty whiskies deep and counting. Invented the felt-side service tray himself.
What we're working on
The side projects that keep the kitchen and the poker room interesting.
The Fermentation Shelf
House koji, miso and a three-year-old hot sauce lineage. Whatever survives the lab ends up on the plate.
Learn-the-Felt Sessions
Free beginner poker workshops on quiet Tuesdays — rules, etiquette, and how not to tip your hand by breathing.
The 120 km Circle
We visit every farm that feeds us and publish the trip notes. Our Otago supplier map hangs by the bar.
What people write about us
Local press keep calling us a "two-for-one venue" — a serious kitchen plus the country's most approachable in-person poker room. We'll take it.
See what's on“Joysola figured out something casinos never did: poker works better with great food and no pressure.”
“The Thursday social poker night might be the easiest room in New Zealand to walk into alone.”
Best way to get the story is over dinner
Book a table for the kitchen, grab a seat at a social poker night, or just walk in and let the evening decide.